


Second Guessing, Second Nature

by SilentAvera



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Palletshipping, Realizing Feelings, or getting smacked in the face by feelings really, quick rescue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-21 23:27:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13154259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilentAvera/pseuds/SilentAvera
Summary: Ash and Gary are summoned to take care of Professor Oak's lab for a week. Meanwhile Gary needs to summon up the tears of Arceus if he's to make it through. Maybe all the troubles are just in his head?





	Second Guessing, Second Nature

**Author's Note:**

> Ficlet for @randomawesomeinterests for the Palletshipping Secret Santa! :D I went with the prompt "-Professor Oak asks Ash and Gary to look after his lab for a day which results in a complete chaos" I hope you like it, I turned their one day in a whole week 8'3 because drowning Gary in feelings makes 24 hours look like two minuets XP

‘To my dear Gary, and Ash,

            As you both know, I will be giving a speech at the Indigo Summit at the end of the month, and despite me being at that blasted convention for only several hours, my absence from the lab will be about a week! This presents a precarious predicament of my lab being un-attended! Surprised? I sure am! For you see, Tracey is away with Misty collecting data for me on pokemon adaptability methods in the ocean depths, and Brock is away on league business at Mount Silver with Bruno and Bertha. Ash, your mother is currently on an ambassador trip representing Kanto, as much as Pallet Town in Sinnoh’s annual Spear Pillar tribute festival. Gary, Daisy is visiting Red and Blue in a far away region. So you see, you two are my only hope! I know I am pulling you from your own routines and adventures, but I simply cannot think of anyone else whom I trust on the matter! I have left instructions on the day-to-day tasks which you will find on my office desk labeled in large print “DAY-TO-DAY INSTRUCTIONS.” I made them as easy to read and follow as possible, but I know that you two do have your own way of managing things, so I left some interpretation at your own discretion, which I am sure will only enrich your experiences on the background workings of the laboratory! Which is not much! I promise! I have the utmost confidence that you two will be able to handle this task! Remember, I will be back in about one week! Hopefully sooner! Try not to have too much fun working together!’

            Your Gramps,

            Professor Oak

 

 

**DAY 1**

 

Upon hearing his clock alarm go off, Gary’s sluggish movements to silence it ended with him accidentally knocking it to the floor and popping the batteries out, one rolling into a dark abyss never to be found again. Gary groaned as he sat up, discovering he slept wrong as a crick in his neck forced him to bend, his feet swinging heavily over the edge of the bed to touch the cold floor waking him up further; Umbreon merely watched their Trainer’s zombie movements from below. “Up are you?” Gary muttered, Umbreon slowly blinked their red glowing eyes at Gary as he struggled to get on his house shoes. “Go see if the mailman has come please.”

“Bre, bre,” Umbreon left, slipping their slick body through the crack of the door without a single hair moving it.

Gary stretched, finally popping that neck crick into place, then dropped unceremoniously back onto the bed with an exasperated sigh, “Dayyyyyyy, onnnnnnnnnnnuuuuh.”

One _would_ think it would be a daunting task to suddenly be saddled with taking of care the _entire_ lab (not even the assistants or interns were here, apparently a holiday is coming up), but with Ash here, with _Ash_ here….with Ash…. _here_ ……

“I should prepare a will.”

It is a known fact that Ash attracts danger as much as a Tauros’ butt attracts flies. There was no way they were going to make it through the week intact, and Gary was ready to accept that fact, as there were many disappointing things in life he had already, and was ready, to accept.

Gary whined with his lips pulled tight, “What were you _thinking_ Gramps.” With a sharp inhale, Gary pushed himself up, threw on his robe and walked out the room. There was no point in putting it off, the faster they completed their duties, the faster the week (half-week?) would go, and the faster Gary, and Ash, could get back to their lives (or what was left of them).

He would be so bold to chance it in running the place by himself, but Gary is not the foolhardy one. Their task today was a perilous one (if you didn’t know what you were doing). Get an entire herd of Exeggutor pruned and growth data assessed. You need a level head and calm demeanor. Which makes this task already half compromised by the party involved.

Gary groaned further.

Kanto Exeggutor are part Psychic type, they’ll pick up on your emotions in a heartbeat, and in one miscalculated thought, you could have a stampede. Gary was almost certain he’d have a couple gray hairs in the morning the way Ash went on, and on, and on about his time with Alolan Exeggutor – _they’re NOT the same! At all!_

“Arceus help me.”

Gary knocked on the door to Ash’s room within the lab’s quarters, “Ash, get up, it’s time to…” the door opened with a slow creak. Gary pushed it open to find Ash’s bed empty and his belongings rummaged about as if Ash put himself together in a hurry.

“Oh no.”

“Bre bre!” Umbreon suddenly returned to Gary’s side with a wide-eyed look, barking insistently at him –

“Don’t tell me he’s gone to the herd?!”

“Bre!”

_“Take me to him!”_

Gary bolted out following Umbreon, jumping down the stairs two at a time, sliding around the corner, out the door, he could hear sharp thumps, footsteps? _Pounding?! Is Ash being trampled?!_ Gary doubled his pace around the wall, over the brush and, _and,_ found Ash, shirtless, chopping some good ol’ firewood….

Ash wiped his brow, tossing the clean cut lumber aside.

Gary glared at Umbreon, and the smug shit-eating grin Umbreon wore at their Trainer made Gary age about 10 years.

_“You sorry little –”_

Ash finally noticed Gary standing there in his robes, “G’morning Gary!” Ash set the axe handle up, clasping his hands on the tip of the grip, resting his chin on top, “Get enough beauty sleep did you?”

Gary crossed his arms, “Since when were you an early bird?”

“Since I started taking my training a bit more seriously,” Ash smiled.

It was an honest answer, but Gary bristled none-the-less, “I never would have thought.”

“Me either! But hey, I’m almost done here,” Ash set another log in place, “I put on a pot of coffee for you, you like that stuff right?” *CHOP* a clean split, right down the middle.

“I do, thank-you.”

Ash smiled with a nod, and moved into place the third to last log, “You know, I think this week is going to be awesome! I’ve always wondered all of what Professor Oak, and you for that matter, do being all sciency and stuff.”

Gary felt himself flush a bit, “Listen Ash, the lab is a big responsibility, don’t treat this like a vacation or an amusement park. Gramps has a reputation to uphold and he trusted us to do so.”

“Oh no, no don’t worry about that, I know, I’m just excited is all,” Ash smiled, *CHOP*, another perfect split. “Besides, I think you _split_ up the chores well, like I’ll take care of all the labor work, and you would take care of all the smart stuff. We play to our strengths.”

Again, Ash was just giving an honest answer, but Gary bristled further, narrowed his eyes, and held out his hand, “Give me the axe.”

Ash stopped, “Gary, I wasn’t calling you weak” –

_“Hand it over.”_

Ash rolled his eyes and held out the axe which Gary snatched up, smoothly trying to play off that the axe was heavier than expected. Ash almost couldn’t step out of the way fast enough as Gary lined himself up with a log (which was also much heavier than expected). “Alright, straight down the middle – !”

“You might want to open up your stance, just, a bit” – _thupe_ – “Gary” – _thupe_ – “Gary just” – _thupe_ – “Really grip it!” – _thupe_ – “You’re just” – _thupe_ – “Okay…” _thupe…._

Gary wiped his brow and inspected his, wood chips. Umbreon was laughing so hard they were wheezing.

“Well,” Ash started, “you splintered one log into many pieces! And here I just split it in two.”

“Right,” huffed Gary, “I didn’t have my morning coffee yet, save that last log for me. I’m going back inside.”

“No, problem,” said Ash watching Gary sha-shay his way back indoors with Umbreon trailing behind with much pep in their step. Ash quirked an eyebrow up, swinging the axe over his shoulder, “What was that all about,” he muttered.

“Pika pika?” Pikachu leapt up onto Ash’s shoulder.

“There you are, I was wondering where you had run off to.”

“Pi-pika pi!”

“Oh really?”

“Chu~”

Back indoors, Gary changed into his clothes for the day, chugged the entire pot of coffee straight, and splashed his body weight in water over his face. He looked at himself in the mirror, hair dripping. “Gary mother-flippin’ Oak, _you’re an idiot,”_ he hissed to his reflection.

The rest of the morning passed as if Gary was walking on eggshells, especially around Ash and his unnecessarily tight fitting polo shirt, but once they began their field work, Gary had no choice but to get over his unnecessarily tight fitting collar.

Both Ash and Gary’s mounts were Rapidash, fine steeds that were well experienced in rounding up many herds across the Kanto meadows, so here on the laboratory’s reserve would be a piece of cake, so to speak. Also, they had Gary’s Arcanine and Houndoom to run ground and Ash’s Charizard to be their eagle-eye-in-the-sky; Pikachu and Umbreon were back at the lab on gate detail.

Both Rapidash snorted as they came to a stop on the top of the meadow hill, they could smell the Exeggutor and pawed the ground.

Gary looked through the binoc-cam, “Alright, there they are, just on the forest’s edge, Charizard will have to cut them quick to get them back into the meadow and that will give you guys the opening to turn herd away from the river” –

Ash’s Rapidash tossed their head, “Yeah I’m fired up too!” said Ash.

“Just follow the guide Ash,” said Gary, “These Exeggutor know it’s their time to be pruned, they might be a bit testy, but they always stick together when they bolt, keep your eye on the leader, that pokemon has the Chlorophyll ability and if they take off before you all are in position, it’ll be a disaster. Once you’ve got the leader into the meadow, keep them tight on the outside – and remember, _keep your thoughts even till you’re in position,_ our best element is surprise.

“No problem, consider these Exeggutor paced,” Ash smiled giving a tug on his lasso, Gary’s stomach did leaps and bounds – “Alright! You guys ready?!” All the pokemon cheered. “Then let’s move out!”

Ash’s Rapidash reared and bolted, Charizard took off like a whirlwind in motion, Arcanine and Houdoom kept back till Charizard made the first cut, both trotting briskly and panting – Gary’s Rapidash stepped eagerly in place, “Keep even, we gotta wait till they get their maneuvers done” –

The pokemon moved like clockwork, once Charizard stealthy flew to the forest side of the herd, they roared and tossed out Air Cutter* slicing a perfect line between the forest and the Exeggutor – one Exeggutor lept straight up into the air, but before the herd could even think to dash into the forest, Ash’s Rapidash was cutting them off down the line with Arcanine and Houdoom, Gary watching with the binoc-cam – “Perfect, perfect!” he whispered to himself, Ash spotted the leader having Rapidash cut them off from bolting to the river – running side-by-side. Rapidash kicked up and bucked and put on a display to ‘GET A MOVE ON!’ to the Exeggutor and it took off in the meadow, leaving Charizard, Arcanine, and Houdoom to push the rest of the herd in formation and away from the forest, away from the river, making them curve around to run into the heart of the grassy plains, and toward the lab pens –

“Alright, we’re up!” said Gary, his Rapidash took off towards the leader, Ash and his Rapidash were pulling back, and the trade-off was done smooth as butter with Gary and his Rapidash leading the herd. Ash and his Rapidash doubled back down the outside of the herd to keep them tight as Arcanine, Houdoom, and Charizard (with perfectly timed Air Cutters*) kept the herd in check, keeping the herd’s eyes on the leader Exeggutor.

Gary’s Rapidash began to slow, and likewise made the leader Exeggutor slow, and thus the entire herd. Gary keeping his thoughts calm, cool, and clear, letting the leader Exeggutor get a good look and feel for him and building a base trust, “Even, even, keep even, Gary whispered to himself. He waved to Pikachu and Umbreon who had the gates open, the pokemon waving back. Gary smiled to himself as Rapidash trotted right through the pen with the Exeggutor following behind, Arcanine and Houndoom doubling back around to keep the funneling even and moving smoothly.

Once the Exeggutor saw the piles and piles of warm delicious berries, they happily joined their leader in chowing down as they all scooted themselves in.

Gary’s Rapidash slipped out of sight, jumped the fence and double back around to see how the rest of the herd was moving in. “Nice, nice,” said Gary, the herd was just walking in, a little pushy here and there, but hearing their companions munching on the berries was convincing enough that there’s no malice here.

Sure enough there were a couple stragglers, but Ash, Rapidash, and Charizard had them well under control, that is until one Exeggutor with a wandering eye got spooked by Charizard’s passing shadow – the Exeggutor leapt about 20 feet in the air and took off like a zubat outta hell – thankfully there wasn’t much of the herd left out in the open and only a couple other Exeggutor got the willies with all of them handled swiftly by Arcanine, Houdoom, Gary and his Rapidash, leaving Ash and his Rapidash and Charizard to take off after the wayward Exeggutor, alas, this pokemon’s ability was Chlorophyll as well and had enough of a head start to make Rapidash and Charizard burn every bit of their energy reserve – Gary’s heart went right up into his throat, the Exeggutor was heading right for the river!

“ASH” –

“I GOT THIS!!”

Rapidash was paced just close enough – Ash threw his lasso and snagged the Exeggutor right by their leaves – the roped was hooked on the saddle – Rapidash came to a screeching halt – Ash and Rapidash pivoted their body to swing the Exeggutor right over the edge of the thundering river and back onto the banks before a drop of water ever touched the pokemon. The Exeggutor rolled right back onto their feet, and Ash dismounted Rapidash –

Gary’s heart shot out – _“Oh my god – what are you doing?!”_ Gary watched Ash make his way to the Exeggutor, the pokemon pitching a fit as Rapidash and Charizard kept the pokemon as boxed in as best they could, especially with their leaves lassoed and bound to Rapidash’s saddle.

Ash had his hands up, walking slowly towards the Grass and Psychic pokemon, his thoughts still and calm.

Exeggutor laid six agitated eyes on him, stomping the ground for him to stay back. It was like watching the most nerve-wracking game of green-light/ red-light, Ash approached the Exeggutor in the crease of every aggressive thought, till he was close enough to lay a hand on the pokemon’s warm bark, the Exeggutor stilled like a frozen pool of water.

“There we go,” said Ash, “Just a bad case of the willies huh?” The Exeggutor blinked, and Ash removed the lasso with little effort, “Come on, I bet you’re starving.”

Gary slipped off his Rapidash and watched Ash walk the Exeggutor in with Rapidash and Charizard, the pokemon the last one to enter the pen. Once the Exeggutor was comfortably inside, Pikachu and Umbreon closed the gate.

Ash stretched as the Exeggutor settled in, “Alrighty, all done! Thank-you Charizard, Rapidash, Arcanine, Houndoom, you all were amazing!”

“Pika, pika~”

“And you two closed the gates, well done!”

Gary walked over to Ash, his thoughts all jumbled (a nearby Exeggutor catching wind), “Ash, that was dangerous.”

“If you didn’t know what you were doing it would be,” said Ash, “But you just keep a cool head right? Exeggutor are super sensitive, I just did as you told me.” Ash put his hands behind his head and gave a wide happy smile, “Besides, with all of us to back each other up, what was there to be afraid of?”

Gary’s heart shot through his rooftop making the nearby Exeggutor gush and gush over a fellow herd member, prompting them to use STOMP* making the Exeggutor stumble back – their shadow eclipsing Gary – _“GARY”_ – Ash dove and snagged Gary out the way before the pokemon fell over backwards (the poor thing still gushing and blushing with hearts for eyes).

Gary felt it all, their bodies flush, Ash’s protective hold on him, and Ash's hand behind Gary’s head to act as cushion. As Charizard and Rapidash helped the stumbling Exeggutor up, Ash pushed himself up, concern in all his features, _“Are you okay?”_

“I should be asking you that,” Gary’s voice was several octaves higher, “You almost took an Exeggutor to the back for me…”

Ash’s face relaxed back into that heartwarming smile, he winked, “Aw it’ll take more than that to knock me out.” Gary was blushing so hard he thought he might catch fire, the poor Exeggutor was still honed into his mental wavelengths and stumbled all about like a dunk, still with hearts for eyes, and gushing their infatuation to anyone that would stand it (till Charizard threw a bucket of water onto their faces snapping them out of it).

Ash helped Gary up, but Gary just stared at him. Ash tilted his head, “Um, shouldn’t we get started?”

“Started on what?”

“Pruning the Exeggutor?”

“Oh yeah! Yes! At once!”

Umbreon turned to Pikachu with another shit-eating grin and Pikachu just shook their little head.

Pruning the Exeggutor was easy enough, just tedious, and Ash spent his time talking with each pokemon he worked on.

Gary was more focused, but not by much, he was steady just enough so another poor Exeggutor wouldn’t catch onto his wayward emotions (he was very thankful Ash never put two-and-two together for the lovestruck Exeggutor – Gary’s hands froze – _lovestruck?!_

“Oh tell me about it,” came Ash’s voice, he was done pruning this one Exeggutor and was now braiding a couple leaves, the Exeggutor sobbed, “It happens, but you have to let it go,” the Exeggutor sobbed harder, “I know it can be hard, but once you put the past to rest, you can move onto your future, you know?” the Exeggutor sniffled, “It’ll get better, you’ll see.”

_Who is this young man?_

The Exeggutor Gary was working looked back at him nervously, Gary snapped out of it and continued with a well placed snip, “All right, you’re all done, off with you then.” The Exeggutor huffed and moved on, the next one taking their place right in front of Gary, but looked longingly at Ash’s line of pokemon. “Don’t worry, I’ll have you out of here fast enough,” said Gary, the Exeggutor snorted.

The day rolled on, and the night came faster, but at least the herd pruning was completed. The Exeggutor would spend the night in the pens and be let out early the next morning. Ash laid his last basket of prunings by Gary, wiping his brow, “Whew! All done!”

Gary stretched his back, “Yeah, let’s call it a day, tomorrow all we’re going to be doing is data spinning, but we have to make some more food for the lab pokemon.” Umbreon came trotting up, “Everyone got fed right?” Umbreon nodded and handed over the checklist from their little fanny-pack. “Awesome, thanks Umbreon.”

“Bre, bre.”

“I can get started on that Gary, you go on and rest, you’re going to be doing most of the data tomorrow anyway.”

“Can’t argue with you there, alright, I’ll see you inside, oh, what would you like for dinner?”

Ash flexed, “Surprise me!”

“Hmp, alright, it should be done by the time you get back inside.”

Ash rubbed his stomach, “I can’t wait!”

The moment Gary was out of Ash’s sight, his body spread itself flat against the wall, and he sunk down into the abyss of AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH with an _‘Oh my god I am legit crushing on Ash motherfucking KETCHUM’_ expression on his face.

 

 

**DAY 2**

 

 

Who slept well? Not Gary.

The melodious knocking at his door let him know that Ash was up before him, _again,_ “Gary! You okay? I put on a pot of coffee for you!”

_Help. Me._

Gary remembered his stupid alarm clock was still missing a battery. He groaned, his movements were about as graceful as a newborn Girafarig, “I’m coming! I’m coming!” Gary called, forsaking his house shoes and just going barefoot. He opened the door, rubbing sleep out of his eyes, yawning, “Good morning.”

“Ah, um, _gooooooood,_ morning….”

Gary rubbed more sleep away, “What?”

“You, sleep in the nude?”’

Gary realized two seconds too late _hey it’s a bit breezy_ before going wide-eyed and slamming the door in Ash’s face – “I didn’t see anything Gary!”

Gary stumbled all around the dark room as that moment of light was all it took to throw his eyesight out of wack –

“And I’m not saying you’re small! It’s just that I didn’t look dow” –

“WILL YOU GIVE ME SOME SPACE FOR GODSAKE!?”

When Gary finally came downstairs, he was wrapped head to toe in black, a black turtleneck, black scarf, black pants, a black jacket, and, shades.

Ash blinked, cup of orange juice in hand, he was reasonably dressed with shorts and a t-shirt, “Um, who died?”

“My dignity.”

“Right. Well, so, your coffee is over there, I’m going to get started on the grounds keeping work, I um, also booted up the computer and placed all the prune baskets on the work table, so it’s, all ready for you…to, you know, do, do your science thing.”

“Thank-you.”

Ash slurped on his orange juice as Gary, who didn’t break eye contact beyond the shades, slowly backed away, and out of sight to the adjacent computer room. Ash looked to Pikachu who was just munching away on some berries.

“Pikachu, is it me?”

Pikachu shrugged and went back to munching.

“Bre, bre.” Umbreon jumped up onto the table and handed Ash a little note from their fanny pack that read, “It’s you homes.”

“What did I do?”

Umbreon took out another slip of paper that read, “Just give him some time.”

“Okay then, I guess…I’ll get to work.”

Umbreon nodded and trotted off, Pikachu following in their steps to help out with the grounds keeping work.

First things first, the Exeggutor were let out to roam the reserve meadows once more, a couple stopping to nuzzle Ash before they took off with Ash wishing them well. Then their pens hand to be cleaned, cleaned, and cleaned some more. After that, more food had to be made for the lab pokemon, then there was helping with the food distribution (that Umbreon and Pikachu took over for once again). Then Ash took a ride on Charizard’s back taking a survey of the reserve, checking to make sure the fences and gates were holding strong – that there were no damage to them – taking note of where all the herds were, and how the pokemon were grouping up in general and faring.

After aaaalll of that, then it was time to, yet again, make even more pokemon food. Ash wiped his brow, looking at the sun already beginning to set. “Man, where did the day go?” He remembered he also was supposed to be helping with the data spinning, and hurried in chopping up the greens, “Great, Gary’s probably even more upset with me…”

Ash tossed the berries and greens into the master oven pan and set the timer for five minuets as the fire roared underneath. Tapping his feet impatiently as the sun seemed to set faster than the timer was running, and by the time the _ding~_ chimed, there were stars out in the night sky, _“Oooh – hot hot hot hot hot hot!”_ Ash hauled out the master pan and dragged it over to the cooling floor, setting it with a lid, “There,” he removed his gloves and high-tailed it back to the lab, to Gary’s side, the lock on the barn kitchen door, just barely setting shut.

Half expecting to hear Moonlight Sonata playing as he approached the room where Gary was working, he instead found Gary dutifully measuring the clippings and entering their numbers into a spreadsheet. He was down to the last basket, the rest having been processed throughout the day.

Ash rubbed his neck, “Ah, Gary, I’m sorry, I just got done with the grounds work…”

Gary looked up, his expression hard to read, “No biggie Ash,” Gary turned back to the prunings, “I’m sure it was much more stimulating work than measuring leaves off Exeggutor.” Ash settled, hearing the honesty in Gary’s voice calmed him like no tomorrow. “I am bored out of my mind.”

“Want me to do the last bit?”

“No, no, I’ve come this far, I’ll get it done.”

“Okay.”

Silence…..Ash turned to leave – “Hey Ash” –

“Hm?” OnO

>3>;; “I know you must be starving by now, I made, something for you” –

Ash’s smile could have lit up Castelia City, “Really?!”

“It’s in the microwave” –

“Thankyou!”

“Your, welcome,” Gary said to thin air as Ash was already half way down the hall. Gary sighed. He had the entire, _almost the entire day to himself to get his emotions in order, and…_

And he was just as fussed as before. Only now Ash was back. But at least he was able to buy himself a bit more time by having a meal already prepped for him…

Sooner than he’d liked however, Ash had returned, _moaning no less – “Oh my goodness,_ Gary, that was the best, _the best!”_ Ash patted his stomach, “When did you become such a good cook?!”

“Well, I, tend to travel alone, so, you know I gotta fend for myself.”

“Oh…”

Gary’s taps on the keyboard keys were the only sound breaking the dead air, til, “Do you, ever think about getting a travel buddy?” Ash asked.

“I do have my pokemon with me.”

“Well that’s true,” said Ash, “Speaking of which, have you seen Pikachu or Umbreon?”

“Yeah, they’re up taking turns wiping down the harnesses we’ll need for tomorrow. We’re going to be breaking in some Dodrio.”

Ash smiled, “Yeah, that task totally caught my eye.”

Gary smiled back, then looked away just as quickly, but Ash was determined to not let things get weird again, “Hey, tell me about the data here, I read it has something to do with their growth rate and the changing of the climate? Seasons? And their typing? But, heh, you know me, I think its going over my head” –

“You’re on track, it’s how the pokemon are effected in relation to their environment. There are some pokemon that change with the season like Sawsbuck, and of course you know about the Alolan forms of pokemon that change typing, sometimes completely. What Gramps is currently researching is what environment unlocks certain typings. How come our Exeggutor are Grass and Psychic types while Alolan Exeggutor are Grass and Dragon?”

“Soooo, where do Exeggutor leaves come into this?”

“Their growth cycle. There’s no such thing as frivolous data when it comes to documenting a pokemon’s aspect in relation to their typing.”

“I suppose….but, tell me more, this sounds really super interesting!” Ash pulled up a seat and parked himself next to Gary.

Gary cleared his throat, “We know pokemon are harbingers of nature. Grass types, Rock types, Ground, Water, Fire, these are pretty straight forward in how the environment shapes a pokemon’s type, but, say for like, the Psychic type, Ghost, Fairy? What is it about the environment that gave birth to those types? Or, were pokemon originally other typings, and they adapted to nature?”

“Wow,” was all that Ash commented, spellbound by something he never really gave much thought to before.

“Look at Normal type pokemon. We call their typing as such because they seemingly are not objectively influenced by their environment. There’s a theory that rather, they came into the environment in their present form, and were already suited as such to survive, thus there was no need to change their typing to help them survive. It also can explain why so many Normal type pokemon have such humongous base HP stats.”

“That’s true, Snorlax would be the poster child of that.”

 _“Very true._ Anywho, so, in regards to typing with the environment, we have three categories: Base Environment, Borderline, and Observable Environment. For Base, we have Grass, Fire, Water, Rock, Ground, Ice, and Flying, since those are the most straightforward. For Borderline, there’s Bug, Poison, Dark, Steel, Electric, and Normal, since it could go either way that these are the types pokemon adapted by nature under special circumstance, or adopted by man-made methods, or, existed under outside of climate/ natural interference. And finally, there’s the Observable Environment typings: Dragon, Psychic, Ghost, Fairy, and Fighting, and we call them Observable, becaussssssssse, we’re still Observing why they are the way they are, although there’s a theory those typings are not caused by the environment, so much as it is the fellow _pokemon within_ the environment. But, like I said, those typings are very, very much under investigation.”

“Wow Gary, _that’s amazing,_ I never really thought about _why_ pokemon were their types before.”

“Take for instance a Breloom, due to their environment, we can guesstimate why it’s a Grass type, but what also made it a Fighting type?”

_“Pokemon are so amazing!”_

Gary couldn’t help but smile as Ash got all starry eyed, “Yeah, makes you think how special an Eevee really is.”

“No kidding!”

“Just to say, Eevee are the forerunners here for this research, their DNA has so many secrets of the pokemon type system just waiting to be found, in fact, it’s possible there are types we don’t know about yet hidden away within their DNA!”

“So coooool! Hey, what about a pokemon’s ability?! And Hidden abilities?!”

“Oh that’s a whoooole other network of science Ashy” –

“I bet you’d be awesome in it!”

Gary smiled, and then the smile disappeared, “Well I sure would give it my all.” Gary leaned back on his chair and stretched, “Alright, data is done, I’m about ready to call it a night.”

“Me too, I’m beat!”

“I’ll catch you in the morning then, goodnight Ash.”

Ash smiled right back, “Goodnight Gary.” Ash leaving with warmth right in his belly that things with Gary were A-Okay and good.

And, that night as Gary lay in bed, under two sets of pajamas, Gary wondered if he was by any chance, Ash’s type.

 

 

**DAY 3**

 

 

Caught in-between dreaming and reality, Gary awoke to a wonderful aroma in the air, his nose sniffled. Gary stretched, taking in deeper breaths, and he could only guess that Ash, once again was awake before him and cooking.

“Hmp.”

Gary exited his room (fully clothed in a modest outfit) and found Ash, sure enough, making a double stack of pancakes, one for him, and one for Gary (he could already see Pikachu and Umbreon chowing down, and outside, Charizard among their other pokemon also enjoyed the pancake treats).

“Good morning,” said Gary.

Ash turned around, bright-eyed and bushy tailed, “Ah, good morning Gary! Do you like cherries, or blueberries, or, um, what would you like on your pancakes?”

“Question first, when did you learn to make pancakes?”

“Well I travel too, and I figured it was high-time for me to learn anyhow, and believe me, it was a _process,”_ Ash flipped another pancake free from the oil onto the plate. “These pancakes are very edible, and not burnt to a crisp.”

“Hmp, well they do smell edible” –

“Come on, come on, these are ready, I want to hear what you think!”

“Okay, okay.” Ash cut off a piece and fed it to Gary via a fork, Gary chomped down, and…he swallowed so he could properly produce the words,

“Oh my god Ash, _that is good.”_

“It’s good?!”

“Yes” –

“You like it?!”

_“Yes” –_

_“It’s really good?!”_

“Ash believe me when I say it’s _good,_ wow, that is really, _really good!”_

The squeal that escaped Ash melted Gary on the spot.

“Alright! Today is going to be a good day!” Ash cheered.

And then suddenly it was not a good day, as after breakfast, the group came to find that the pokemon food Ash made last night got torn into by a wayward pokemon that broke their way into the barn’s kitchen.

“Oh noooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh!” Ash groaned,

Gary and Umbreon were checking on the lab pokemon, so far everyone was okay, if not a bit shaken.

“I could’ve sworn I locked everything up! Ugh, is everyone okay?”

Gary jogged back over to Ash, “Yeah, they’re good, none of the lab pokemon are hurt, this thing just broke in and left, Umbreon says they said it was too dark to see anything, but whoever it was sounded very scary,” Gary called out Arcanine, “Alright, Arcanine, we gotta find the pokemon that broke into the kitchen, use Odor Sleuth*!” Arcanine did and their face immediately turned sour – “What is it?” Arcanine growled.

“That’s not a good sign,” said Ash.

“What is it Arcanine? Normal Type? Dark Type?”

Arcanine pawed the ground for Normal Type.

“Snorlax? Tauros?”

But that was something Arcanine just couldn’t quite pin down, it had the Normal type scent, but as for the pokemon, there was little to decipher.

“Alright, so we know it’s a Normal type at least,” said Ash.

“Go get ‘em Arcanine, and bring them back here!” Arcanine howled and took off on the trail of the scent. Gary crossed his arms in thought watching his pokemon speed away –

Ash pulled out a master pan (that wasn’t broken). “Man, there’s only one that isn’t broken! Everyone is going to be starving by the time I can get enough cooked!”

“I have an idea Ash,” said Gary, “We’ll just let the pokemon free-graze today.”

“Eh?”

“Free-graze, let them out into the reserve to do their thing, and that will buy us more time to make them some more hefty-style food. Grant it we’ll have a fun time rounding up everyone, but hey,” Gary winked, “I think with your skills, we’ll be able to handle it.”

What Gary was expecting was exuberant praise from Ash, which he got, what he was not expecting, was the crushing hug that followed aaaaaaaand his thoughts almost teetered out of control, again.

“Alright, everyone roams free today!” Ash cheered, the pokemon cheered, and once all the pens were open, the pokemon practically stampeded out and into the four corners of the reserve. Meanwhile, Gary cleaned up the mess the thief pokemon made while Ash and Charizard cooked up a ton more pokemon food with an older oven (but still very usable). “Well, the way they tore into everything, they must have really needed this food,” said Ash.

“It’s still thieving,” said Gary, “They didn’t have to break our equipment like this.”

“I know Professor Oak doesn’t turn away any pokemon, wild or not, but, you think they’re still in the reserve somewhere?”

“If they are, Arcanine will be back with them soon, they’ve never let me down on finding their target, and I think we should tend to them before we do anything else,” said Gary. “We’ll have to hold off on breaking in those Dodrio for now.”

“Yeah, what if this pokemon is hurt? They might need our help!”

“Good thing is I didn’t see a trail of blood anywhere,” said Gary. By the time he finished up cleaning/ repairing the mess and the food was all cooked, it was well into the afternoon.

Ash and Charizard pulled the last master pan out onto the cooling floor (over twenty full batches having been made in all). “Alright, that should be enough for _everyone_ when we get them back.”

Ash and Gary checked, and double checked that the outdoor kitchen area was totally locked up (thankfully the locks were easily replaceable).

Gary looked worried to the meadow, “Arcanine should have been back by now, it’s never taken them this long to track someone down…”

“Let’s go searching for them,” said Ash, “Up on Charizard.”

“We also have to get everyone back in their pens” –

The Rapidash trotted up with Pikachu, Umbreon, and Houndoom nickering and chirping, Ash nodded to them, “We can leave that to our pokemon, they know what to do and they’ll get everyone back.”

“Bre, bre,” Umbreon pulled out a little slip of paper from their fanny pouch that read, “Trust us.” Any other time, Gary would have given Umbreon the most sarcastic smirk.

“Yeah, but some of the pokemon won’t lead without a human to focus on….” Rapidash nudged Gary in the back and whinnied, “Ash, you and Charizard, could” –

“Leave it to us.” Charizard nodded with Ash, “We’ll find Arcanine Gary,” Ash grasped his hands, “I promise.”

Gary was too worried about Arcanine to be nervous of his emotions, he placed all his trust in Ash, “Please do…Alright, we’ll round up the pokemon, everyone, keep an ear to the ground for Arcanine while you’re out there!”

Before they split up to do their search, Gary got them a pair of hands-free (charged) walkie-talkies, but Gary’s binoc-cam’s charge was dead, “Great, great, I forgot to charge it” –

“Take Pikachu with you, they’ll charge it as you go.”

“Pika, pika!” Pikachu leapt up on Gary’s shoulder.

Gary smiled, “On that note, Umbreon, go with Ash, Ash, Umbreon has a knack for pointing out the smallest details, they’ll be better help in the sky than on the ground.”

Umbreon shrugged and nodded.

“You be good to Ash, don’t give him any sass.”

“Bre.” (No promises). Umbreon jumped up on Charizard’s back.

“Alright, be careful up there.”

“You be careful _down_ there.”

It didn’t have to come out that way but it diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiid – Ash nodded to Pikachu, his eyes reading, _Hey, keep Gary safe okay?_

Pikachu nodded to their Trainer’s wish.

Likewise, Gary’s gaze said the same to Umbreon, _Watch over him, will you?_

Umbreon nodded, although rolled their eyes as well.

Up in the sky however Umbreon didn’t so much as blink as their gaze scorched the land below, Charizard keeping even as they searched from above.

Gary on the ground was kept on a swivel with Pikachu as Rapidash galloped along the fields, gathering in the first of the herds with Houndoom and the other Rapidash, Gary tapped on his walkie-talkie, “See anything suspicious so far, over?”

“No, but, so, we have to say over after we’re done talking right? Over?”

“I guess, it’s what they do in the movies,” said Gary, “over.”

“Cool, over. Oh, and we don’t see anything yet over – ”

“BRE! BRE!!!”

“I take that back! By the forest edge! Where the forest meets the lake! The fence is damaged!”

Gary, Pikachu, and Rapidash high-tailed it over there leaving the herd pokemon to do their thing with only poor Houndoom and Rapidash, leaping over unsuspecting pokemon just grazing to their heart’s content (the herd of Exeggutor on edge). They joined up with Ash, Umbreon, and Charizard, all coming upon a big, gaping hole in the siding of the metal fence cut a little too evenly for a wild pokemon’s coordination.

The blood drained from Gary’s face, but Ash was getting angry.

“This is bad.”

“Poachers,” Ash growled.

So on top of having a mysterious Normal type pokemon running amok and Arcanine missing, now there were possibly poachers running around on the reserve!

Rapidash sniffed the cut sides of the fence, “Think you track them down?” Rapidash looked back and sad eyes and ears – “Damn, we need Houndoom! Arcanine!”

“We’ll find them,” said Ash, “But for now, Gary, you’ve got to get all of the pokemon back to the pens now. We’ll keep on the search!”

“Okay, alright” –

“I bet you anything Arcanine must have taken off after them!”

“Or they have Arcanine! We need more eyes looking!”

In perfect timing, the leader of the Exeggutor herd lumbered up, “Exxxeggutor~!”

Ash gave a big smile, “Exeggutor! Gary! They can” –

“Use their psychic power! Great! This is great!”

Ash took over, “Exeggutor, _please,_ the reserve is in danger, we need you to get your herd to help us find Arcanine a Normal Type pokemon, and possible poachers!”

The Exeggutor nodded and called for their entire herd, the Grass and Psychic pokemon all gathering up and then suddenly all still. Their eyes began to glow, and as one, they swayed, keeping time perfectly with the herd leader, Gary and Ash and the others watching in amazement as the herd leader swayed to and fro with all the Exeggutor doing the same.

“Bre! Bre bre!” Umbreon pulled out another piece of paper from their fanny pouch that read, “Ask them your questions now!”

“Ah,” Gary gulped, “Where is Arcanine?!”

The lead Exeggutor roared out and the other Exeggutor did the same the swayed and tossed their heads around till suddenly – all the them pointed due East!

“Arcanine!”

“Where are the Poachers?!”

Again the herd all swayed together, tossing their heads – and again, they all pointed due East –

_“No, no” –_

“And the Normal Type?!”

The herd ended up with the same result –

“Thank-you, thank-you Exeggutor!”

“Let’s go!!!”

And the team bolted off as the Exeggutor came down from their high of Psychic power, a little Exeggutor jumping up and wishing their search well.

Even with the speed of the sky on their side, Charizard was having trouble keeping up with Rapidash as Gary urged them on and on, as fast as they could go – leaping over the fence with ease and tearing through the forest wilderness. Charizard had no choice but to fly over, but it was for the best since Ash could see a clearing in the forest, and sure enough a truck where it shouldn’t be, Ash almost screamed into the walkie-talkie, “They’re coming up Gary! Green truck! Be on guard!”

“Got it!”

As soon as Gary hit the clearing he saw the truck, pokemon in cages – he gave Rapidash the command, “Rapidash! Bounce* the front of the truck!”

Rapidash tossed their heads and leapt up high into the sky, and before the Poachers even knew what hit them, Rapidash landed square on the motor of the truck, destroying it completely – Pikachu jumped off and zapped the bastards to high heaven –

Charizard swooped in from above with Slash* cutting off the top to all the cages in one swoop, all the pokemon making a break for it into the forest.

Gary slipped off Rapidash and yanked up a poacher still very much feeling the effects of Pikachu’s Thunderbolt* – “WHERE’S MY ARCANINE?!”

The poacher just wheezed –

“Gary! In the truck!” Gary dropped the scumbag and dashed over to Ash and Charizard breaking more pokemon free, including a Persian with red eyes with a black collar around it and Arcanine that looked very, very injured –

_“Arcanine!”_

The pokemon whined, there was blood underneath it!

“Hang in there Arcanine!”

Umbreon pulled some medicine out of their fanny pouch as Gary quickly scanned Arcanine’s body for wounds, finding two small holes covered in blood – he administered the medicine as fast as possible – “Ash we need to get Arcanine to the pokemon center – quick!”

“Naw, _you little shits are not going anywhere” –_

Ash and Gary looked up in time to hear squeals of pain from Rapidash and saw another of the poacher group that was unscathed, his Tyranitar lumbering up behind him, tossing poor Rapidash aside – _“Rapidash!”_

Charizard rushed the Tyranitar in a fit of emotions, but any Trainer would know what an awful idea that was – Charizard was met with a Stone Edge* to the face, Tyranitar dunking it out right and tossing it aside as uselessly as the Rapidash was –

“CHARIZARD” –

Pikachu was just about to let loose Thunderbolt* when the Tyranitar’s eyes glowed – Psychic power wrapped around Pikachu and slammed them into Umbreon – knocking the both of them hard to the back of the truck –

_“Psychic*?!”_

The Persian with the red eyes hissed vehemently at them.

“That stupid off-color Persian wasn’t worth this mess!” The opening to the truck was shut and bound closed –

“Pikachu, Umbreon! Are y’all okay?!”

“How can a Tyranitar know Psychic moves?!”

“Pika-chaaaaaa” – Umbreon mumbled and hissed as they wobbled up, only to fall back down as the truck’s trailer was tossed and moved about –

“We’re being moved!”

– “OOF –”

The truck trailer was being rolled, throwing everyone mercilessly around inside, poor Arcanine flopping about limply as the Persian with the red eyes jumped about, trying to stay on balance, even jumping off Ash – “Ow!”

The trailer came to a rest momentarily – then – TOOM, TOOM, TOOM! The walls were being crushed in! And finally, shoved over soft land –

“Oh god – _they’re going to toss us into the river!”_

No sooner than Gary had said that, the trailer was airborne – and upon impact, water began rushing inside sending everyone into a panic –

“The latch!”

Bruised and disoriented from the roll and crushings, Ash and Gary stumbled over, the water already up to their waist and began kicking and banging from the outside to bump the latch up and out – anything to dislodge a way out – but if the roll didn’t knock it loose, what chance did they have?!

As the water rose to their chest, Gary looked back in time to see Arcanine’s snout go under – “ARCANI – MMPH” – they were in the tomb of the water for only a second – the collar around the Persian with the red eyes shorted out – and immediately after, the pokemon became encased in light and the next thing everyone knew, they were dropped into the barn kitchen, sopping wet and coughing – scaring the other pokemon half to death –

Gary didn’t have time to question this logic, he bolted to the phone and screamed for help to come.

Houndoom and the other Rapidash came bounding up, shock on their faces, Ash quickly explained to them what happened, and they raced out to find Gary’s Rapidash and Ash’s Charizard, “Take an Exeggutor with you!”

Gary spent all his graces on the phone and returned to Arcanine’s side once help was well on its way, “Please, please, hang in there Arcanine, hang in there please!”

“Bre-bre!”

“Pika-pika!”

Gary wrapped his arms around his poor Arcanine and Ash wrapped his arms around Gary’s back. A soft meow made him look up to the Red-eyed Persian who as sitting just a few feet away.

“Please, if there’s any power you have to help Arcanine, _please!”_

The Red-eyed Persian slowly shut their eyes, but didn’t move. When they opened their eyes again, there was another flash of light, and a very, very confused Nurse Joy with a Chansey was dropped unceremoniously on their bottoms – “Ah, oh my, what, _what?! Where are we?!”_

“Nurse Joy! Please help!”

When all was said and done with that evening, Arcanine was saved in just the nick of time. Gary not once left their side, and Ash never left his.

 

 

**DAY 4**

 

 

When they awoke the next day, it wasn’t till mid-morning. Gary doesn’t remember falling asleep, he doesn’t remember laying down, or where anyone was. Gary emerged from his sleep in a kind of stupor, feeling so very warm and calm, when he noticed an arm draped over him, and came to understand, very quickly, whatever happened that evening, if he and Ash were apart, somehow in the night, they had come together with Ash spooning him from behind.

After the events from yesterday, Gary was too tired to care, much less freak out, and just let himself enjoy the embrace from Ash, feeling all the comfort in the world. Nearby, Arcanine was resting peacefully, wrapped and patched up with Ash’s Charizard, both Rapidash, Pikachu, Umbreon and Houdoom all snuggling them in a protective cuddle pile.

Everyone made it back safe, everyone was okay. Gary fell back asleep.

Overnight, Nurse Joy took the encounter at face-value, there was an Arcanine in dire need of help, and two young men that looked like they had been fished out of the ocean with their pokemon; for the time, she was Team Mom, and took care of them all (grant it she and her Chansey would have one hell of a story to tell her coworkers about).

Once everything was settled and Arcanine was stable, she watched the boys succumb to their exhaustion and curl up with one another. And after realizing who they were, she immediately put forth a call to Professor Oak and Ash’s mother.

The red-eyed Persian had vanished off into the wilderness.

When Ash and Gary got up for real, it was still, and quiet, and very peaceful. Ash smiled at Gary, and Gary smiled back, both of them hugging with their foreheads touching, and Gary wondered what oh what ever it was that had him so afraid before.

What was left of their day was spent making sure all the lab pokemon were accounted for, and by the time they finished, thankfully, all the lab pokemon were indeed accounted for. Ash and Gary looked like the very life had been sucked out of them, they slid off their equally tired pokemon, all of them flopping down on a bed of hay, “Ugh” –

“It’s all good, everyone is here, everyone is safe” –

“Now we have to feed them,” said Ash under his heavy heaving breaths, Ash tried to get up and barely succeeded, Gary tried to get up, but his body wasn’t having it.

“Ugh.”

“You stay there, I got this, I got this, don’t worry.”

And there Gary stayed, rubbing his hands over his face and pondering over the events that transpired and thinking they were so far behind in their chores that they’d never catch up unless a miracle presented itself.

But perhaps that was okay. They did what they could, Gary found he and Ash worked together better than he thought they would, grant it, danger still found them. Whether Ash locked up the kitchen barn or not in the first place, the point was moot, Ash also equally attracts the strangest and most impressive encounters, this time a poacher with a freaky Tyranitar and an equally mysterious Persian…..But Gary couldn’t really blame him for that.

Thinking back on his past disappointments, he had no one to really lean on. It was just him. He’s different now, but, better? Gary couldn’t help but chuckle to himself, can you imagine if this happened when they were younger? Forget the stupid poachers, they might have burned the entire lab down just by themselves! Gary sighed.

All the mistakes he had made, and was still making, and, it was nice, running the lab together for the time they did….

Gary was sure he’d never get to run a lab of his own. Despite all his advances, all his knowledge, there was still, just, so much more, so much outside, so much to interfere. Yes he would be in charge of this lab one day, but if was just starting out with nothing to his name? He wouldn’t stand a chance. And to think he had the gall to chide Ash about keeping up this place’s reputation?

Gary was the one to let everyone down here.

By now, Gary had sunk so low in his misery, Ash appeared back over him full of concern. “Gary?”

“I’m okay Ash, help me up please.” And Ash did, and that….made Gary have a thought….

Whoever said you _had_ to do it by yourself?

Gary smiled at Ash, “Hey, we make a great team huh?”

Ash blinked, a bright smile spreading over his features. “We sure do….Gary? What’s got you so sad?”

“I’m just, thinking about, things.”

“What things?”

“Just, things, and, what comes next?”

“Next?”

“Yeah, what comes after this?”

“I was thinking pancakes.”

Gary smiled…. “You never changed.”

“I don’t think you did either.”

“I did,” said Gary, “But, not for the better.”

Umbreon slid up to Gary’s side.

Ash cocked his head, “What do you mean? You’re fine to me.”

“Yeah, well, I’m glad you think that way” –

“You did get nicer, we had our rivalry, but for what it’s worth, I really like you as my friend.”

 _Friend?!_ Gary almost felt himself get crushed on the inside, but what chance did they really have?

“And for whatever is bothering you, If you’d like some help, you can count on me!”

“Thanks, Ash.”

A short silence, then, Ash asked, “After this, are you going back out to Sinnoh?”

“For a little bit, yeah,” said Gary, “You’re doing some work in Johto, right?”

“Yeah, just a little, Sinnoh is kinda far.”

“It is.”

More silence, then, Gary said, on a wing and a prayer, “I’d like to see you again soon though.”

“Me too.”

Ash’s reply was almost too quick for Gary to process, “You do?”

“Of course! It's been so long since I've last seen you! I’ve really missed you!”

Ash hugged Gary again, hard, giving Gary time to totally process that yeah, things may have been a dumpster fire, but, _it really is so much better doing things with someone else – at least to have another human around –_

Gary swallowed, “I’ll think of something, I’ll make it work” –

“So after this, we _will_ be seeing each other again soon right?”

_“Definitely.”_

Ash’s smile lit up all of Kanto.

“Gotta be honest, I’m really looking forward to those pancakes again” –

“I’ll get started on them right away!”

Their dinner was cheery and light. As Pikachu and Umbreon munched on some berries, Ash told Gary all about his new experiences in Johto, and…when Ash pried out of Gary about his current adventures, Gary told the truth.

“You failed a field exam?”

“Yup. I can retake it and stuff, but, not right now. Not. Right now.” Gary’s hand was trembling.

“So? You know how many tests I’ve outright flunked?! Pbbbth! Who cares about one exam?!”

 _“I do!”_ Gary’s voice was higher than he meant it to be, but shouted none-the-less, Gary turned away, “You don’t get it Ash, I’m _Samuel Oak’s_ grandson, I’m an _Oak,_ it was, it was completely humiliating to walk out of that class with everyone, _everyone_ looking at me like I’m – _such a disappointment!”_

“…You’re not a disappointment to me. Who cares what those other people think? You think if I listened to every insult tossed my way, I’d be where I am now?”

_“You don’t get it” –_

“No, I don’t – who are they to twist you out of what you want _your_ future to be? Gary, we literally almost died about 24 hours ago – _you think some, sheets of paper are going to define how you lived your life?”_

For a moment, Gary was caught off-guard by Ash’s words, but his bitterness rebounded him fast, “Not everyone is some natural pokemon whisperer – you’ve earned your Trainer statuses, I haven’t passed a simple field exam!” –

“You said you can try again, so try again! Maybe you were having an off-day” –

“I studied for that thing day and night – I _knew_ I was going to pass, there was no way I could have failed, but when they called me aside, I didn’t know what to think, and they dismissed me right then and there!”

“I have literally been thrown out of gyms Gary” –

“A pokemon trainer and a pokemon researcher are very different fields Ash” –

“Different fields, same disappointment, I can see that hurt you Gary, you’re really wound up about it – and I’m trying to tell you that one mistake is not going to haunt you the rest of your life” –

Gary got up, “You don’t understand” –

“Gary” –

“Dinner was great, thank-you” –

_“Gary” –_

But Gary took his plate and left the dining room, leaving an exasperated Ash and a silent Pikachu and Umbreon. Umbreon walked over to Ash and pulled another slip of paper out from their fanny pack, “Please give Gary some time.”

“But he’s had time Umbreon, he’s been hurting with this for a while now, hasn’t he?”

Umbreon looked a little sad, and pulled another piece of paper out, “What can you do?”

“Easy, I’m going to help him.”

 

 

**DAY 5**

 

 

Going from one night cuddled with Ash to spending it completely alone in his room was not ideal. Gary woke up on his own throughout the night, and then when his alarm eventually went off (he finally remember to put in new batteries), Gary just pushed it off the nightstand and let the little batteries roll where they may.

He sighed. He didn’t really care to think about the lab work, they were so far behind now – main thing is that all the pokemon were being fed and cared for….He could be a hired farmhand somewhere far, far away….but a researcher….no….no…..

There came a knocking at the door. Gary groaned, that had to be Ash….

Gary got up, tossed on some clothes and opened the door to find, not Ash, but, a packet of paper titled “Field Exam” with a pencil taped to it. Gary had a half a mind to tear the entire thing in half, and the other half was entranced by all the hearts that were drawn around it. What the hell – Gary took the pencil, opened the booklet, and looked through.

The entire thing was written by hand. The pictures were printed out at least, but, it, this entire thing was done by hand.

Question 1: What is your name?

Question 2: Where is your hometown?

Question 3: Who was your first pokemon?

Question 4: What’s your favorite color?

And it went on like that, till,

Question 16: What was your best memory the day you left your hometown?

Question 17: What was the goal you had in mind?

Question 18: What did you do to reach it?

And further still…

Question 29: When was the first time you failed in reaching your goal?

Gary flipped through a couple of pages, reaching a section that read, “The Hard Stuff”.

It was blank, except for a small note that read, “Write down the hardest thing you ever went through in your life,” followed by another, smaller note in parenthesis, “(it’s good to get this stuff out!)”.

The section that followed that read, “Write down what you felt.” Gary flipped through a couple more pages that were blank sections for essay writing, but, he stopped on a page that had a big red stop sign with the words underneath “Reading Only Section Complete, Please Turn Page.”

The following page was a handwritten letter from Ash.

 

Dear Gary,

            I know these are written words, but I really want you to listen to this. The words, that I am writing, like pretend I’m speaking them okay? Okay cool, I’m speaking, Gary, I’m pretty sure this “field exam” was a poor measure of your abilities, just like that other one. What ‘I’ think makes for something that tests someone out is tooooooooooootally different from someone else way of being tested out. Plus it was really hard coming up with all those questions, I don’t know who could get their jollies off making tests, but I hope they get more hugs in life. Anywho, point being is, just because a test questioned you, doesn’t mean you should question yourself. Did that make sense? I hope it makes sense, because it sounded really cool in my head. All the aspects of you, all the memories, all the experiences, the joys and cool stuff that make you, _you_ – doesn’t belong on paper, it belongs in your heart. And I know that sounds like an oxymoron for a pokemon researcher (protip I Toogled ‘oxymoron’ so I know what it means) but it’s true! You know so much about pokemon Gary, you really do! All that explanation stuff you said about their typing – don’t tell me that doesn’t take some school know-how because even though I was nodding along, I was totally lost! A pokemon trainer and pokemon researcher are two different things, but the joy we get from our respective fields is the same – _the pursuit of knowledge._ We both want to learn, we both have so much to learn – not just from studying, but from, trying a new perspective. And I think you need a change of pace to remind you the real joy of learning! These tests, I think they’ve sucked out the fun for you, I want to rekindle that spark in you! That fire! I know you’ve got so much you want to do Gary and I think together, you’ll find that spark again! You teach me, and I’ll teach you. I know for a fact that you are a born researcher. I don’t know anyone else who can put in the dedication you do – and for these people to just slam this door in your face – that’s so messed up! Their loss I say – I don’t know what those people were looking for, but all that test said was that you’re not a match for _them_. And, I think, you’re a match for me! I know you said we’d see each other soon after this, but…I kinda want that now? I really would like to travel with you Gary, or, if you’d like to travel with me, that’s cool too, either way, I’d, really, really super like to have some adventures with you! Because, truth be told, I don’t want to separate again! Or like, just yet, I mean I totally get if you gotta go to some other regions, I super did that, traveled all over, it was a lot of fun! And you were, mainly alone? Man forget that, traveling together would be so much fun! It would be so much fun Gary….I’m, really glad to have someone like you in my life. And, almost dying, again, for like the millionth time because I guess I attract danger like flies to a Tauros’ butt….I want you to live your life, without any limitations. No regrets. Whatever wall comes your way, I want to knock down. Whatever pitfall comes your way, I want to help you crawl out of, whatever river comes your way (too soon?), I want to help you swim across. I really like you Gary.

Let’s have an adventure together?

-Ash Ketchum.

PS: There’s still that log outside waiting for you to give it another go.

 

By the time Gary was done, there was a thick lump in his throat; he chuckled, and wiped his eyes.

"Gary?"

Gary looked up to see Ash standing before him, concern filling him, waiting for a response from Gary – Gary sped right over and gave Ash one of the tightest hugs in his life, _“Thank-you, Ash.”_

Ash hugged him back just as hard, “Anytime Gary.”

“I’ll travel with you Ash” –

“Eh” –

Gary looked into Ash’s eyes, “I’m going to travel with you, there’s nothing waiting for me in Sinnoh that’s more worthwhile than right here.”

Ash’s eyes went all starry-eyed and his mouth made such a big open smile – “YAY” – Ash pulled Gary in for another hug **–** “ _I’ll make pancakes for you every day!”_

Gary couldn’t help but laugh, but he couldn’t hide his blush, “But, but for right now, we do have a lab to attend to.”

“Yeah, heh, we’re kinda behind” –

“I think we can catch up,” Gary smiled –

“You think so?”

“Yes, I know those plans front-to-back, plus,” Gary blasted a face full of confidence and determination, “I have an idea.”

Ash nodded back, “Let’s do it!”

Pikachu and Umbreon watching from afar shared happy glances, Umbreon more-so in seeing their Trainer smile so much, so recently.

Gary re-figured out the chores, timing them down to the minuet with grounds keeping, feeding, cooking, data collecting and entering, processing, checking in on Arcanine, and breaking in those Dodrio, with the help of their pokemon, it could be done.

As Gary ready off the chores to their team, Umbreon held an honest smile in seeing Ash and Gary holding hands. After a huddle and a “GOOOOO ‘TEAM GET THE LAB BACK IN ORDER’!” they were off! Charizard and Pikachu were on cooking duty, Ash and the two Rapidash were out to round up the Dodrio, Houndoom cared for Arcanine, and Gary and Umbreon broke out the research books and began building a case for the Psychic typing of Kanto Exeggutor, for given the recent experience with the Tyranitar and Persian, Gary had some theories…

The hours ticked, keyboard keys were mashed, Dodrio were pecking, Pikachu was cutting up berries, Rapidash kicked up dirt as they rounded up pokemon, and Ash was a proud rider of a very spirited Dodrio. They were still behind, but they were catching up, every second counted. When the pokemon went to rest, Ash and Gary did not till the very wee-hours of the night, for the sleep they did get, it was in each other’s arms.

 **Day 6** came and went, Ash and Gary worked and worked and worked through, taking quick breaks and eating when needed, they moved like a well oiled machine, and by the time the sun set, they were completely caught up with the lab work, and had a reserve full of happy and healthy pokemon.

That night they fell asleep together again, but this time on Ash’s bed, Gary once again the little spoon, and he thought to himself, _oh I can get used to this._

Come what may, it was nice to be reminded the future didn’t have to be faced alone.

 

 

**DAY 7**

 

 

Gary was just stirring awake. He grumbled and scooted back into Ash’s hold more, Ash in his sleep wrapping his arms around Gary more. Gary was drifting back off asleep, his mind playing tricks that he could have sworn he heard a car drive up, voices, loud voices, shouting almost. Then he heard clear as day the door to the lab almost get knocked straight down, “ASH!? GARY?! ARE YOU TWO OKAY?!”

If the voices of a very disheveled Professor Oak and Mrs. Ketchum weren’t enough, their thundering footsteps up the stairs made sure Gary and Ash were well awake by the time they burst into the room – “ASH – GARY!!!”

“OH THANK HEAVEN!!!”

They greeted their parents with all the reassurance but it did little to calm their nerves; they were older, but forever their children. Mrs. Ketchum was trying to cradle her son, and Professor Oak, much older, gave his grandson a hug from muscles that never forgot how to embrace a loved one.

“Tell me everything that happened,” said Professor Oak, _“Everything” –_

“I’m going to make sure those poachers won’t ever find a place to rest!” said Mrs. Ketchum.

Eventually Ash and Gary were able to calm them down, and told them how their week went from top to bottom: rounding up the Exeggutor herd, how the type research was continued, the break-in on the kitchen, Arcanine going missing, the poachers, the Tyranitar, the Persian, the river, how they were all saved, and how they managed to catch up on all the lab work.

“We make a really great team Gramps.”

Professor Oak smiled deeply along with Mrs. Ketchum, “I’m so happy to hear that.” The both of them noting Ash and Gary were very much holding hands.

“So what’s the plan for today?” Professor Oak asked.

“Are you back?”

“Well, yes” –

“Then it’s packing” –

“Packing?”

“Yeah,” smiled Ash standing up, “We’re going on an adventure together!”

“We’re going to find that Persian, it’s gotta be in the process of type-evolving, and that Tyranitar too! That poacher got his hands on someone very special, and they deserve to be free.”

“Yeah, they won’t get the best of us this time” –

“Oh Ash, you do know how to worry your mother so,” sighed Mrs. Ketchum with a weak smile.

“I’ve always come home before mom, and I’ll continue to do so! Just this time Gary will be with me.”

“Then I’ll be sure to make an extra dinner.”

“Well I sure don’t want to hold you young men up any longer, you’ve done so much for this lab and me” –

“You’ll at least let me make you two breakfast won’t you?” asked Mrs. Ketchum with a wink.

“Well,” Ash rubbed the back of his head, “We don’t have to take off _too_ soon.” Gary chuckled with Ash.

Breakfast was a whirlwind of conversation and laughter and love. Afterwards, Ash and Gary helped out with some more chores before Professor Oak began shooing them off, insisting that a couple assistants were on their way back from holiday.

“Go on you two, the wind is calling!”

Ash and Gary packed their things, their pokemon eager to get on the road with them (Arcanine well enough to give Gary all the kisses before getting back in their pokeball). Ash kissed his mother goodbye, and Gary gave his dear gramps a tight, tight hug, “I’m going to make you proud Gramps, I promise.”

“Oh Gary, you already have.”

“Bre bre!”

“Pika pika!”

“You all be careful now! Be safe! Stick together!”

“Don’t worry mom, we will!”

“Oh Ash,” said Gary, “one more thing I gotta do before we take off” –

“Oh yeah! Do it Gary!”

Ash and Gary doubled back over to the firewood stack, Gary picked up the axe, lined himself up and *CHOP*….At the last moment Gary had closed his eyes, but when he opened them, there was the log, split in two, it wasn’t perfect, but it was so much better than his attempts before, Ash jumped up, fist pumping the air, “Alright Gary! Woo hoo!”

“Hmp,” Gary flipped his hair, setting the axe back in its holder, “It didn’t stand a chance.”

“Come on Gary, let’s go!” Ash grabbed him by the hand and they ran off together onto the route that led out of town, Pikachu and Umbreon running side by side sharing all the joy in their Trainer’s hearts.

Professor Oak looked out from his porch to watch Ash and Gary running off into the horizon with their pokemon, waving them goodbye with Mrs. Ketchum. Yes, they were older, but the joy of adventure, of learning, of sharing their lives together, oh,

That’s forever.


End file.
